The Passion (novel)

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The Passion is a novel by the German writer Clara Viebig from 1925.

The subject of the event is the ordeal of three people suffering from syphilis . The focus is on the problems of the protagonists, who have to struggle with fear, exclusion and loneliness as soon as their illness becomes apparent.

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The story takes place mainly in Berlin. In addition to the central characters of the novel, Eva Wilkowski, her mother Olga and father Manfred Berndorff, Eva's uncle Stefan Wilkowski and his wife Ella and the prostitute Lene Bumke play an important role.

Eva is born with congenital syphilis. She inherited this disease from her father Manfred Berndorff.

Manfred Berndorff is presented as a defaulting student who, after several attempts, did not manage to take his Abitur. This is due to his not very determined attitude, on the other hand, nocturnal escapades do not contribute to his erudition. During a visit to the brothel, he becomes infected with syphilis, which at the time was not curable. Without knowing about the infection, he farms Olga Wilkowski, the daughter of his landlord. She hears him, partly out of pity, partly out of affection, after the sudden death of his father, whom the blow hits over the antics of his son.

Manfred moves to Berlin to take his Abitur. There he discovered the first symptoms of his illness. He tries everything to find a cure and seeks quacks in addition to regular doctors. The medical advances of the time are only so far that symptoms can be cured, but not the cause. Fear of the disease makes the young man, who is already weak in drive, sink into helplessness.

Olga, who is expecting a child, travels to Manfred in the hope of finding support in him, but she is disappointed. Manfred is horrified at her appearance and he picks up an unknown address. Olga turns to her brother Stefan and his wife Ella, but both support her only half-heartedly. Olga gives birth to her child with a dubious midwife. She calls the frail girl Eva.

Although Olga also comes into contact with the demi-world lady Lene Bumke, she remains the 'decent girl' from the country. If she still needs help from her brother Stefan at the beginning, she soon gets through life as a skilled seamstress. Still, there remains a remnant of contempt for her brother. When his father dies, Stefan does not allow his sister to travel with him to the funeral service because he is ashamed of Olga. This incident worsens the relationship between brother and sister.

The one and only of the mother is Eva. It spoils the child as much as their possibilities allow. Olga suspects the cause of Eva's ailments when she has to stay at the Charité for a few weeks. Nobody speaks to her openly, however, neither the doctors nor Manfred's mother, who only knows that her son is wasting away in an institution and suffering from "paralysis."

Olga longs for a future with an understanding man who is also good for children. The acquaintance with the violinist Hans Blechhammer, who saved Eva from drowning, gave her new courage. If the relationship between Eva and Hans starts off well at first, this changes suddenly when the spoiled child realizes that from now on it has to share the mother with the new man. This actually gives the musician her yes, not least out of gratitude for the rescue of Eve. On the day of the wedding, Eva falls ill and the mother wakes up by her bed all night. The new husband sees this as a reset. People are silent and gradually turn away from each other.

Olga feels disappointed in her expectations. She suspects that Hans will not be a caring father for her child, and she looks for something else to support Eva. She asks her brother Stefan to always be there for Eva and visits Ms. Lessel, a wealthy, friendly customer. The child takes this in during the summer vacation. Eva enjoys the holidays, but only now does she really become aware of the poor conditions in her own family. To make matters worse, Olga becomes ill and dies of diphtheritis.

Now a true odyssey begins for Eva through different households. Hans Blechhammer, who accepts a commitment to South America, does not care about the now 14-year-old, and she is initially taken in by her aunt and uncle. There she has to do hard housework. An attack of weakness leads to Eva's re-admission to the Charité, where she is treated with mercury.

Eva begins to work for her cousin as a carer for her disabled child; but this activity is too difficult for them. On Frau Lessel's mediation, she is supposed to recover in a deaconess home, but she cannot stand the meager fare of the poor house and uses the milk can out of hunger. When she couldn't take it any longer, she returned to Berlin and was dizzy that contagious diseases had broken out in the home. First, Eva is taken into the household of a friendly woman who takes care of abandoned children. She feels comfortable there, but when her cousin Albert rejects Eva's affection, she decides to take her own life. She throws herself out the window.

Eva's stay at the Charité again is necessary. There she learns that she has inherited syphilis, but that the disease is not contagious. After this news, Eva almost loses her will to live. To make matters worse, the dizziness about her return from the deaconess home is exposed. These white lies and other incidents bring them into disrepute.

While working in a children's home, Eva embezzles the household money entrusted to her, which leads to the dismissal. Eva turns to Lene Bumke, her mother's former friend. This is where she finds acceptance and attention. When Lene visits her sick husband in an institution for paralysis patients, Eva happens to meet her sick father, but without realizing who the ailing person is before her. Eva leaves Lene when she notices that she has plans to turn her into a whore.

Eva finds work in the household of a pharmacist couple, but she lives in constant fear that her illness will be revealed. In fact, she will be dismissed on heavy charges as soon as this is known. After another stay at the Charité, she hopes to find a new home with a family with Sophie, her hunchbacked daughter, because she feels connected to Sophie. But she quickly turns away from her when Eva reveals her illness. Eva herself draws the consequences and quits.

The experience of being marginalized by other sick people leaves Eva in despair. She no longer sees any hope of healing. Again she finds work in the household of a paralyzed baron, but here too she is dismissed with harsh accusations as soon as her illness becomes apparent.

The thought of suicide is becoming more frequent again, but there is another passage that gives it stability. But when she threatens to lose it, Eva turns on the gas tap and is released from her earthly torment.

Interpretative approaches

With the theme of the inheritance of a disease, the ›Passion‹ bears the traits of a naturalistic literary experiment in the sense of Hippolyte Taine's theory of inheritance. Aside from the inherited illness, this is indicated by the depiction of the father Berndorff, whose drawing suggests some sins of youth that the son later commits and to which he ultimately falls victim.

Clara Viebig mainly sheds light on how people deal with the disease from a social and psychological perspective. The aspect of fear of the disease, the hope of healing, loneliness and the simultaneous search for security on the part of those affected is important, while the environment sees the disease as a shame and their behavior is dismissive or of insecurities in dealing with the sick People is shaped.

Another aspect is the problem of the single mother, whose symbiosis with the child is changed by the arrival of a new partner.

expenditure

  • Clara Viebig: The Passion. German publishing company, Stuttgart 1926.
  • Clara Viebig, Christel Aretz (Hrsg.), Ina Braun (Hrsg.): The Passion. with an afterword by Ina Braun, Bautz, Nordhausen 2012, ISBN 978-3-88309-739-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Orzechowski, Simone: Illness and Affliction in Clara Viebig's Zeitromanen , in: Neuhaus, Volker and Michel Durand (ed.): Die Provinz des Weiblichen. On the narrative work of Clara Viebig , Bern 2004 (39–75).
  2. ^ Durand, Michel: Les romans berlinois de Clara Viebig (1860-1952). Contribution à l'étude du naturalisme tardif en Allemagne , Bern 1993, p. 352 f.
  3. ↑ Scheuffler, Gottlieb: Clara Viebig. Time and Century , Erfurt 1927 (155–165).